The song is one of Brooks' most popular recordings, and is one of the key tracks that helped his No Fences album stay on the top of the charts for many months (the album spent over 30 weeks at number 1 on Billboards Country Charts).

Contents

Content[edit]

A man runs into his high school sweetheart at a football game in their hometown. As he introduces her to his wife, he reminisces about that past relationship and how he had once prayed so fervently that this girl would be his significant other forever. He realizes that both of them have changed and then looks to his wife and realizes that God knew what He was doing all along.

Background and Production[edit]

According to Brooks, the song is based on a true story:

"Man, 'Unanswered Prayers' was a big part of my heart that went out on that record. A true life thing that happened to Sandy and myself. In October of '89, I saw my old high school flame. And I can say this now at the time I couldn't. For the first two years of my married life, I really thought the girl that was for me was still that girl that was in high school. And now man just the realization that what you have is the best for you, and the best you could ever do in your lifetime. It sure makes you sleep well at night."[1]

Garth provided the following background information on the song in the CD booklet liner notes from The Hits:

"Pat Alger and I worked on this song quite a long time without a hook, without the line. We passed it by Larry Bastian and it was as if it was meant to be. Larry, his wife Myrna and I were taking a walk down 18th Avenue, and he looked at me and said, 'Oh, that's simple. This song should be called 'Unanswered Prayers' because some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers.' This is probably the truest song I have ever been involved with as a writer. This actually happened to my wife and me when we went back home to Oklahoma. Every time I sing this song, it teaches me the same lesson... happiness isn't getting what you want, it is wanting what you've got."[2]

Year-end charts[edit]

Other versions[edit]

Pat Alger, a co-writer of the song, recorded his own version of "Unanswered Prayers" in 1994. It was included as the closing track on his album Seeds. Tony Oller was in a TV version of this song that appeared on Lifetime TV network in 2010.